The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 14, 2025
Olive Tree II
1996
(American, b. 1959)
Sheet: 91 x 77 cm (35 13/16 x 30 5/16 in.); Platemark: 63.8 x 60.3 cm (25 1/8 x 23 3/4 in.)
Location: Not on view
Description
David Smith-Harrison describes his prints as conversations among various elements: space, composition, perspective, and ornament. In "Olive Tree" II, the artist juxtaposes an olive tree with a cityscape based on Granada, Spain. The carefully crafted rendition of both tree and architecture emphasizes the sense of permanance. The out-of-scale olive tree, a species that can live 500 years, hovers above an historic city. A haze of pale pink, the glow of a rosy sunset, intensifies the dreamlike atmosphere. An excellent draftsman, the artist explains, "My approach to printmaking relies very much on drawing. I am fascinated with the magic of drawing, of making marks which provide parallels with experience; marks which are able to express my feelings for form, space, light, and movement. I also consider drawing to be a very personal, searching process, and a tool for developing my powers of observation and memory.- Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 229): September 11, 2009 - December 7, 2009.
- {{cite web|title=Olive Tree II|url=false|author=David Smith-Harrison|year=1996|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2004.37